Friday, March 21, 2008

Ok, I just came across this. At first I didn't get it, must be the "pregnant brain". Then, when I figured it out, I thought it would make a great addition to next year's St. Patty's feast!

(P.S. I read a study where they had done MRIs on pregnant women's brains. And, they actually show a 20% shrinkage during pregnancy. Shocking, I know, but the "pregnant brain" is real! Just thought I would pass that along.)

Put into a small container, mix to combine. Store airtight for a couple weeks.

For the Fish

We put aluminum foil into a baking dish and spray to coat the bottom. Place single-serving sized piece of fish in dish. Sprinkle with "Jolley" rub, and well - rub it in. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or just until the "white milk" of the fish begins to come to the top. Or you can microwave 1-2 serving of fish (sans aluminum foil, covered with cling wrap) in 3 minute increments.

In a nonstick 10 inch skillet or 3-quart saucepan, heat margarine and oil overmedium-high heat until butter is melted. Cook onion and parsley in oil mixture about 5 minutes, stirringfrequently, until onion is tender.Stir in rice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until edges of kernels aretranslucent. Stir in ½ cup chickenbroth. Cook about 3 minutes, stirringconstantly, until broth is absorbed.Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in 1 cup of the broth. Cook uncovered about 5 minutes, stirringfrequently, until broth is absorbed. Repeat, adding another 1 cup of broth. Stir in remaining 1 cup broth. Cook about 8 minutes, stirring frequently. Taste rice. If rice is still“crunchy,” add more broth and continue to cook until rice is soft. When rice is just tender andmixture is creamy, stir in cheese and pepper.

Caitlin says: "Definietly add mushrooms and you do not need to use as much parmesan cheese which will make it healthier. I like to add more onion."

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

This recipe first came from my cousin Erin's wedding. However, I had lunch with a dear friend from our old ward this last week, and she made it. Major pregnancy craving solved! I think I ate 3 servings of it. Yum-o! My husband is blaming my "pregnancy cravings" for a lot of our meals lately. Oh well. He can choose what we eat after the baby comes, when he'll be doing the cooking!

Mix coleslaw dressing, mayo and salt together. Set aside. Mix all other ingredients (except cashews) together and stir to combine. Toss with dressing to coat. Chill in the refrigerator or serve immediately. Add cashews just before serving.

Ok, you'll have to cut it down to "family-size" yourself. My brain just can't do that today, sorry!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Okay, here is the plan for Easter. We've got to get going there are only 6 more days!!!

Monday, March 17th - Dye Easter Eggs for FHE (kind of an anti-climatic end to our St. Patty's dinner, but what can you do?)I would love to make these cute t-shirts with Andrew, we'll see if we get that far! Maybe He'll have to do it with Grandma Leavitt.

Sunday, March 23rd (baby cooperating) -Easter breakfast:Carrot Cake Waffles or Orange RollsHashbrown/Egg CasseroleLow-Fat Strawberry-Banana Yogurt SmoothieEaster Lunch:Easter Egg Open-faced Sandwiches (recipe to be posted)Easter Dinner (I'm not in charge, but here are the traditional dishes):HamSaladFuneral Potatoes (Cooking Light has a "Lighten Up" version I would like to try)"Bunny" BreadEaster Egg Jell-O or "Jellobeans" (get your molds here), and innumberable other yummy things!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

To make yummy pizza at home, start with a pizza crust from your favorite recipe (or a store bought crust). Our favorite pizzas are BBQ Chicken, Veggie, "Award Winning Pizza", or pepperoni. Tonight, we're having BBQ Chicken and Pepperoni/Cheese. The California Citrus salad recipe comes from a high school friend of mine, who came to dinner with her husband a few week's ago - so yummy!

Friday, March 14, 2008

My cousin, Amber, first made this for us when she was in town visiting. They have become a favorite of ours. Apparently, her husband takes whole casserole dishes of them to work to share with the guys.

Cook the ground turkey. Stir in 3/4 C enchilada sauce, beans, corn and 1 C of the cheese. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish. Spoon enchilada filling into tortillas, roll up and place in the casserole dish seam side down. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top; sprinkle with remaning cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until hot.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

I can't believe that Saint Patrick's Day and Easter fall so close together this year (only 6 days apart)! That is a little too close to adequately "shift" holidays in between, so here are my St. Patty's plans:

And these darling "Wee Leprechauns" will adorn our table (if I ever get around to buying green craft foam).

So those are my St. Patrick's Day plans. Andrew had a great time making the Shamrock Rice Krispies, but mostly he was eating the over-sized marshmallows. At a certain point, you have to cut the kid offf!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

A whole little row of those "beautys" is lining my kitchen counter. I can't wait to flip them over tomorrow and see if it worked. I tried the Cooked Jam recipe for the first time today. My mom always does Freezer Jam, so that is what I have done in the past. But, with freezer space at a minimum these days, I decided to try the Cooked Jam this time.

I had the berries frozen. So, I just whipped them out, defrosted, and "wha-la" - JAM!!! Like I said, we'll see if they seal. Wish us luck, or I will have a lot of jam in my refrigerator.

And, check this out. I was so excited when I found it. I'm seriously considering signing Andrew up for a class, since he loves to "mix" and help me in the kitchen.

Place the chicken stock in a large pot over high heat, bring to a boil. Cut the corn kernels from the cob. Add the cobs to the stock and simmer.Preheat soup pot over med-high heat with 2 Tbsp of EVOO. Add chopped bacon and cook until crisp. Remove bacon with slotted spoon, and drain on a paper towel. Add the butter to the pot. Add yellow onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Cook stirring frequently until onions start to brown.Add reserved corn kernels to the onions, cook 2 minutes. Add flour to pot and cook additional minute. Remove corncobs from stock and discard. Whisk stock into onion and corn mixture, a ladle full at a time. Add the cream and bring to a simmer, cook 8 to 10 minutes.Serve garnished with crispy bacon.

Note: I add an additional 2-3 Tbsp of flour, because we like thicker chowder. I, also, dice up two baking potatoes and boil them seperately while making the rest of the soup to add in at the end. My husband likes extra bacon!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

This recipe comes from the "Make-A-Mix" Cookbook. So, technically, you can make the meat sauce ahead of time, freeze it and use it for many other recipes. We just make the Shepherd's Pie, so I'll give you the 1 batch version (normally, it is 5 batches).

I started by cutting the recipe in half. (You know, in case we hated it, I didn't want to be throwing a lot away.) I prepared the turkey mixture exactly as directed. But, then, I dumped it into a small baking dish, added a little extra water, and threw it in the oven topped with cheese. Bake it for 10 minutes and served it with chips on the side, because my husband isn't really into corn tortillas/chips as the base of a casserole.

Overall, it had really good flavor. And we loved it as a dip/chili with the chips on the side.

Heat oven to 350 degree F. Coat the 6 wells of a jumbo muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Prepare Crumb Topping: In a medium-size bowl, whisk together flour, light-brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Work in butter with your fingertips until crumbs are formed. Set aside until batter is mixed and in the muffin pan.Prepare Muffins: In a small bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup water, the eggs and oil. Stir flour mixture into oil mixture just until moistened. Gently fold in berries.Divide batter among prepared wells, about 2/3 cup in each. Top batter with crumb topping, dividing equally (about 1/4 cup on each).Bake at 350 degree F for 33 to 35 minutes. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer directly to wire rack and continue to cool. Before serving, dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

So, I followed the recipe exactly until dividing up the batter. I don't have a "Jumbo" muffin pan, so I used a regular muffin pan. I got 9 muffins with slightly heaping 1/3 C scoops of batter each. Then, I just divided the topping evenly. They still needed to bake for 35 minutes before they were done. (I started checking at 25 minutes, but maybe that's my oven.)

The verdict: I would have liked a slightly "sweeter" muffin. But that could easily be remedied by switching the amount of flour and brown sugar in the topping, or adding a little more sugar and water to the batter. We'll see what happens next time! Overall, we did like them, and my husband said that he would like to eat them again. Does that make it a success?

Note: When I ate these the second day, I thought they were much better!

We got this recipe from our good friends the Krumpermans. They got it from a ward chili-cookoff. It was the first-prize chili that year. The great part is that you make a "Garlic Pork Roast" which you could eat for your Sunday dinner and, then, you shred the leftovers for the Pork Chili.

Trim pork; cook in oil on medium-high till brown on all sides; sprinkle with salt and pepper.Place onion and garlic in crock pot, put pork roast on top and pour chicken broth over it. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours.

For the Chili: Shred the pork, saving 1 cup of the liquid to pour over the shredded pork. Can be stored in containers and frozen up to 4 months, or refrigerator for 4 days.

The "Garlic Pork Roast" recipe will make enough for 3 times the "Spicy Pork Chili" recipe, if you just use it for that. We like to reserve a little extra liquid that the recipe calls for. The chili recipe will make dinner for 4 people, or my family with one-time of leftovers. For company, I 2 or 3 times the recipe.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

When I was pregnant with Andrew, I made the comment to some ladies in my ward that I thought I ate so much better when I was pregnant. They laughed at me. But it is true. When I'm pregnant my body just does not handle sugar well. It flat out makes me ill.So here is a recipe for my new favorite treat. The recipe makes four servings, but it is really easy to cut down for one!

I like to add three ice cubes to my single-serving version. You could also add vanilla protein powder to this and have a yummy breakfast. I usually end up sharing mine with Andrew, because you can't eat in front of a two-year-old with out sharing. He says, "Mom, that's so yum!"

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

This is my amazing sister, Caitlin! She's here with a recipe for all of us to try. It can be served as a side dish, or with the simple addition of chicken or shrimp could easily be turned into a main course.

For a make-ahead meal, cook the orzo, then toss with the rest of the ingredients in a 2 1/2-quart casserole dish. Store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Bake at 375º for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

I "Meal-Swap" with a friend in my ward once a week. Our families are about the same size, and sometimes a full recipe is too much for on family. So I take her dinner (a main course and one side) on Tuesdays, and she brings me dinner on Thursdays.

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Me

Everyday is a cooking adventure for us as we try to eat healthy, work together, and build memories. Instead of one little person helping me, I now have two. I cook with one on a chair and one on my hip.